Need help with overseas phone rates please

[TechnoKid]

Hi.

My mom is currently overseas in China. What I need some help on is finding the lowest rates per minute to call China. I know that a direct call would be the most expensive. I am in central California. I have checked 10-10-220's website and they list $3.99 for 10 minutes and 29 cents thereafter. Is this a good rate? One thing I don't like about this is that if I call and service at the hotel picks up because shes not availible, I get charged a full $3.99. I would rather get charged slightly higher per minute than $3.99 a call. Also, does anyone know how is the connection quality with these third party phone connections? I would assumer that a direct connect would have the best quality, but again, the most per minute. Would a phone card be a better idea than the 10-10 thingy?

Thanks for all your help in advance.

-Chris

 

[Viper GTS]

Bigzoo

Viper GTS

 

[TechnoKid]

Thanks Viper...

 

[N8Magic]

Regarding pricing, I have no idea who is the best, as i'm not in the US.

As far as call quality goes, it should be the same as if you dialled the call using 011-phone-number. The 10-10 companies et al generally do not have their own networks, and simply resell long distance minutes at discounted rates. They buy time in bulk from other carriers (Sprint, Worldcom, etc.) who sell it to them cheaply because of the large volume.

10-10 calls are actually considered direct dialled calls, because all that is happening when you dial 1010320 is you are alerting the local switch to start billing the reseller at the discounted rate. (1010 being the code to alert the switch, 320 being the company to bill it to) While all of this is going on, the billing system in the switch also knows to bill you at company 320's standard rates.

Simple eh?

 

[RossMAN]

Another vote for BigZoo.com / OneSuite.com (they're the same company).

Best overall call quality and value hands down. Just need a credit card and you can get your PIN immediately and start calling China right now.